Shirt



(No Model.)

M. 0.. WEST.

SHIRT.

No. 422,271. Patented Feb. 25, 1890.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIC MARSHALL OTIS WEST, OF PORT CHESTER, NEW YORK.

SHIRT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 422,271, dated February 25, 1890. Application filed December 17, 1889- Serial No. 334,030. (No specimens.)

I '0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MARSHALL OTIS WVEST, a citizen of the United States, residing at Port Chester, in the county of WVestchester and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Seam-Stays for Garments; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to that class of garments which have seams ending in plackets like the side seams of a shirt; and its object is to provide means for strengtheningor staying said seam ends against being ripped, and to do this in a manner that shall leave aneat smooth finish nearly indistinguishable from the hem at the sides of the placket, that shall enable the hemmer to hem continuously around the lower end of a shirt at one main-- terrupted operation, and that shall extend an invisible stay across the end of a seam at a placket at a cost much less than that of gussets.

To this end my invention consists in the construction and combination of parts forming a seamstay for shirts and other garments consisting of the re-enforeed' hem, hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure I represents a portion of the side of a shirtbody having my stay out in form ready to be made up. Fig. 11 represents a portion of a made up shirt with my invisible stay inclosed in the hem across the end of the placket, the location of the ends of the stay being shown by dotted lines. Fig. III represents a portion of .the front and back of a shirt joined by the usual side seam and ready to be hemmed around-the lower edge, my stay projecting in sight as it does before being turned in by the hemmer. Fig. IV is an end view of a common hem very much enlarged. Fig. V is an end View of a hem re-enforced with my concealed stay wide enough to form Fig. V1 is an end View of a hem re-enforced with my concealed stay wide enough to form two full folds or four thicknesses inside the hem.

Let S and 9 represent portions of a shirt joined by the usual side seam 11, which terminates at its lower end ata placket 12.

10 represents my stay or re-enforce, which is out, as shown in Fig. I, at the side edge of one of the portions 8 lengthwise of the goods and in such a position that the end of the side seam 11 will come at or alittle above the end 13 of the parting slit. Now the side seams 11 are to be sewed and finished in any usual manner, as shown in Fig. III. Then the shirt is to be hemmed around its lower end, and that may be done with a common sewing-machine hemmer sewing in the direction of the arrows 14. When the inclined end 15 of the stay 10 enters the mouth of the hemmer, it begins to be turned under like the edge of a hem, and when the full body of the stay reaches the stitching-needle it has been rolled into a pipe and further been folded down fiat inside the form, which would have been a common hem if the stay had not been there, and the stay is stitched through and through by the hem-stitches and entirely concealed within the hem. The tongue portion of the stay 10, extending across the end of scam 11, is rolled inside the hem on portion 9, and being stitched down therewith, it becomes a stay or hinder across the end of seam 11 at the placket 12. i

The stay may be cut of a width to form any desired number of thicknesses'when rolled and pressed in the hem.

By comparing Fig. IV, which shows a common hem, with Fig. V, which shows a hem and a stay of two thicknesses inside of it, and with Fig. VI, which shows a hem and a stay of four thicknesses inside of it, the strengthening eifect of my stay may be appreciated.

It is policy to cut the stay 10 on the right hand edge of one piece and on the left-hand edge of the other piece, considered relatively to the whole body of the shirt, in order that the tongue of each stay may point away from the approaching hemmer and be attacked by the hemmer at the incline 15 rather than at the free end. It is possible to approach the free end of the stay and to join two stays, one cut on each piece 8 and 9, across the same seam 11; but this involves some hand-work in steadying the free end, and, it being unnecessary, is not deemed practical.

My invisible seam-stay possesses the following advantages: It may be made of different thicknesses, so as to furnish any amount of strength required, even so that a strain upon the shirt will tear it somewhere else sooner than at the stayed seam. Its cost, either in the goods or making up, is not felt, and it is a material saving over gussets. It being entirely concealed within the hem, is properly called an invisible stay, and shirts so stayed have a neat and stylish appearance. There being nothing of this stay exposed upon the surface of the shirt, it does not in any manner interfere with laundering, and it cannot be a point of wear or weakness. It permits the shirt to be hemmed around the lower end at one continuous operation, thus saving one handling over the old process. It re- A garment comprising two portions of goods I joined together by a seam ending at a placket,

one of the said portions being formed with a tongue, the said tongue extending across the end of the said seam upon the other portion and being secured within a hem formed on the edge of the garment about the placket, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

MARSHALL oTIs WEST.

Witnesses:

ANDREW BURNS, FRANK II. BROWN. 

